Stapling machine



y 1937- v B. B. BLANCHARD 2,078,999

STAPLING MACHINE Filed June 2'7, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Tigrl I 1 I WQQQ M (Ab MGM May 1937. B. B. BLANCHARD 2,078,999

. STAPLING MACHINE Filed June 27, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M/E/v TUQ Patented May 4, 1937 UNITED STATES m sts PATENT FEE 2,078,999 STAPLING MACHINE Application June 27, 1936, Serial No. 87,660

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to fasteninginserting machines, for example staple forming and driving machines. The illustrated machine embodying the invention is especially designed for sealing radio tube cartons.

A typical staple forming and driving machine is that shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1,016,930, granted February 13, 1912, upon an ap plication of William H. Borden. Such a machine is provided with a wire feeding mechanism, an inside former over which the wire is fed, a cutter for then severing. an unformed staple from the main body of the wire, an outside former for bending the staple legs over the inside former, a driving throat, means for retracting the inside former from the driving path, and means for driving the staple through the work against an anvil. In such machines, as found in use, the anvil is movable downwardly to admit the work and to permit its movement through the machine, and is moved upwardly to hold the work firmly against the throat prior to the driving of a staple. Such machines drive several staples per second and are often used to fasten substantially flat pieces of work together.

The art is in need of a machine which will be more convenient than the movable anvil machine for use on work of such a nature that its upward movement with the anvil engenders diiiiculty, or inconvenience. Such work, for example, is the stapling of various types of ornaments to shoes, as bows, straps or pompons, and stapling shank pieces to insoles, and the like. Such work requires careful adjustment of the piece to be stapled upon the main work piece, together with the preservation of the adjustment until after the staple is driven. To this end, it is desirable that the work, once arranged, should not run the risk of disturbance by a movement of the anvil.

It has already been proposed to move the staple driving mechanism up and down above a stationary anvil for the purposes above discussed, and to omit the driving throat, driving the staple directly from the outside former into and through the work. Thus, the lower portion of the outside former, instead of having merely the movement necessary to bend the staple legs, mustthen have a range of movement extending from the anvil to the upper surface of the inside former, which is much greater than the convenient handling of such work requires, involves some mechanical difficulty in a rapidly operating machine, and engenders the serious practical difliculty that when the outside former is remote from the anvil it is so far from it (for example two inches or more) that the operator has difficulty in placing his work accurately under the outside former upon the anvil, which is hidden by the work, and the staples are therefore not driven with sufficient accuracy. It has not been practicable to lower the inside former sufficiently to avoid this disadvantage without risking interference between the operators hands or the work and the wire feeding mechanism, which is located at the level of the top of the inside former.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, cheap and convenient machine for the purpose discussed, which will avoid the disadvantages mentioned.

I have accordingly provided a machine in which an entire staple forming and driving head is automatically movable above a stationary anvil. I have found that a staple forming and driving mechanism of ordinary construction may be so moved through the interval requisite in the 20 types of work discussed above without loss of any of the advantages of machines provided with a fixed head and movable anvil. The present invention, in this respect, requires no redesigning of the staple forming and driving mechanism, and is therefore free from much of the expense involved in the development of new machines.

The mechanism for oscillating the head above the fixed anvil provided by the present invention is simple and inexpensive. It is operated directly from the main cam shaft which, located in the upper part of the machine, is a well-known element of machines of the Borden type. I have provided, in the illustrated machine, a cam upon this shaft cooperating with a roll upon the machine frame, which exerts a force upon the shaft and the entire head in which it is mounted, in a direction lengthwise of the shaft. This cam and roll are located at that end of the head which is remote from the staple forming and driving mechanism and the head is pivoted to the machine frame at a point considerably below the cam and shaft and opposite the driving throat. Thus the movement of the shaft lengthwise under the action of the cam will move the whole head around the pivot and will cause the throat to oscillate vertically.

Another feature of the invention relates to the staple forming mechanism. Machines of the Borden type require careful adjustment of the cutter relatively to the outside former so that the severed piece of wire will not have an opportunity to jump as it is severed from the main body of the wire. I have provided a resilient lost motion connection between the cutter and the former, whereby the former will strike the wire just before the cutter engages it and will resiliently hold the wire against the upper surface of the inside former while it is being cut by the cutter, the positive drive of the outside former being initiated just subsequent to the completion of the cut. The wire is thus held against bouncing at the instant of severance, and a fruitful source of trouble is thus eliminated. Conveniently, the outside former is mounted in a slideway in a carrier plate operated from the main cam shaft in the ordinary manner and a spring is inserted between the former and the carrier plate which also carries the cutter. The outside former itself may be of ordinary construction and the wire is held between its forming corners and the edges of the inside former while being severed. Danger of disturbance of the wire in the cutting operation is thus minimized by this two point support.

These and other features of the invention comprising certain combinations and arrangements of parts will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation; and

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine.

The illustrated machine comprises a base or frame I0 having an upwardly extending arm I2. The arm I2 is straddled by a bifurcate head I4, the arms of which lie one on each side of the arm I2, and are pivoted to the frame II! at I6. The head I4 has a rearwardly extending arm I8 which is spring-pressed upwardly by a spring 28 seated in the frame Ill, and which is limited as to downward movement by an adjustable stop 22 formed as a screw bearing against the frame Ill. Thus clockwise (Fig. 1) rotation of the head I4 about the pivot I6 is limited by the screw 22 and counterclockwise movement is assisted by the spring 20. The base I8 has also an upwardly extending arm 24 which carries the reel 26 for the staple wire 28. The reel is so mounted in order to diminish the mass of the rapidly moving head I4.

The head I4 is provided with the ordinary cam shaft 30 operated by a pulley 32 and Horton clutch 34 the roller cage in which is controlled by a member 36. The member 36 is spring-biased to throw the clutch into operation when the bell crank 38, 48 is moved sideways (Fig. 1) by the treadl'e rod 42, as is usual in clutches of this type.

The hub of the clutch 34 has a cam 44 on its side face which is flat at all portions except for a single depression 46. The cam 44, 46 cooperates with a roll 48 mounted on the frame arm I2. The shaft 38 is suitably held against endwise movement in its bearings so that when the high flat portion of the cam 44 is against the roll the head I4 will be forced clockwise (Fig. 1) about the pivot I6, and when the depression 46 is against the roll the head I4 will move rapidly counter-clockwise, about the pivot I6, under the influence of gravity and of the spring 20. Thus the left-hand (Fig. 1) end of the head will have an up-and-down oscillating movement when the clutch is engaged and the pulley is rotating, with a dwell in its uppermost position which is long as compared with its dwell in its lowermost position.

The frame It! also carries the anvil 50 which is laterally adjustable toward and from the observer (Fig. l) by means of a screw 52 and vertically adjustable by means of a screw 54, the

screws acting upon suitable slides. Any tendency to wobbling of the head I4 is prevented by two screws 56 mounted in the arms of the head and having a running fit against the opposite sides of the frame arm I2.

The staple forming and driving mechanism is mounted on the head I4 and, except as noted, is of conventional structure. The shaft 38 (Fig. 2) has a cam disk 58 which cooperates with a roll 68 on a lever 82 pivoted at 64 on the head I4. The lever 82 has a roll 66 at its outer end which cooperates with a wear plate 68 on a carrier slide Ill running in a vertical slideway in the head I 4.

The lever 62 forces the slide I0 downwardly and a spring I2, mounted in a groove in the head I4 and resting against a stud I3 in the head and against the wear plate 88, forces the slide I8 upwardly when the lever 62 releases it.

The carrier slide I8 is provided with a slideway I4 in which is mounted the driver carrier I6. The front face of the slide I0 is slotted across horizontally at I8 to receive the T-shaped head 86 of an outside former 82 which is bifurcated at its lower end to straddle an inside former 84, retractible by the cam shaft 38 after the formation of the staple, as is usual in machines of this type. The slot I8 is vertically wider than the head 80, giving the former 82 a substantial amount of freedom for vertical mo- This spring 88 normally holds the former a slide 98 clampable by a screw 9| is vertically adjustable by a screw 92. The slide 98 carries a bracket 84 laterally adjustable by a screw 96. A cutter 98 is mounted on the bracket 94 cooperating with a'die I through which the wire 28 is fed in the usual way by mechanism (not shown in detail) operated from the cam shaft 3!] in proper timed relation to the other moving elements of the machine. The lower cutting edge of the cutter 98 is adjusted to a position slightly above the lowest position of the lower edge of r the outside former 82.

When the slide Ill descends, the lower edge of the outside former 82 strikes the wire which has been fed across the upper surface of the inside former 84 and rests on the wire. Further movement of the slide I0 compresses the spring 88 without moving the former 82, until the cutter 98 has severed the wire, after which the T-head 80 of the outside former strikes the upper side of the slot I8 and the outside former is then positively driven downwardly to form the staple in the ordinary manner, after which the inside former 84 is pulled back to provide a free driving passage for the formed staple. The outside former 82 moves downwardly, carrying the staple with it, until it closes upon the throat I02 which has the usual driving passage I04, collinear with the driving passage in the outside former 82, after which the staple is driven.

Thus the wire 28 is steadied upon the inside former 84 during the severing operation, and is prevented from bouncing into any improper position, when severed, by the forming corners of the outside former which are resiliently pressed against the wire at such time, thus obviating a prolific cause of crippled staples.

The staple is driven by a driver ")6 fastened to the carrier 16, the driver I06 being linked at I08 to the end of a lever Ill] operated by a cam roll H2 adjustable and eccentrically mounted on the cam shaft3il, and is usual in machines of the Borden type. The driver I06 runs in the usual slideway H4 in the outside former 80, 82 and fits the driving passage I04 in the throat I02.

A cover plate H6 for the forming'mechanism is shown broken away in Fig. 2.

The machine is so timed that the wire is fed and out and the staple formed while the throat 12 is in its raised position, the driver I06 driving the staple after the throat has dropped on the work. 1

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a staple forming ,and driving machine, an anvil, a head carrying a main cam shaft and staple forming and driving mechanism operated thereby and a driving throat located above said anvil, said head being pivoted upon the machineframe at a point remote from said anvil and from said cam shaft, and mechanism located between the machine frame and the cam shaft arranged to be operated by the shaft and to exert a force between the frame and the cam shaft whereby the said head will be moved about said pivot toward and from said anvil.

2. In a staple forming and driving machine, an anvil, a head carryinga main cam shaft and staple forming and driving mechanism operated thereby and a driving throat located above said anvil, said head being pivoted upon the machine frame at a point remote from said anvil and from said cam shaft, a cam, and a roll cooperating therewith, mounted one on the machine frame and one on the cam shaft, whereby the said head may be moved from said anvil.

3. In a staple forming and driving machine, a fixed anvil, a head carrying staple forming and driving mechanism in a position to cooperate with said anvil, said head being pivoted tothe machine frame and carrying also a main operating shaft for operating the said staple forming and driving mechanism, each of said anvil, pivot and shaft being remote from theother two, and a pressure exerting mechanism located between said shaft and the machine frame andoperated by the shaft, to move the said head about said mounting of the head, a roll mounted on the machine frame cooperating with said cam to tilt the head about said pivot when the said cam shaft revolves, and a rigid arm on said head beyond the said pivot, said arm being springbiased against the pressure ofthe said roll on the said cam.

5. In a staple forming and driving machine, a carrier slide having a cutter mounted thereon, said carrier slide having a, slideway, an outside former having movement in said slideway parallel to the direction of operative movement of said former, said movement being positively limited in both directions, said outside formerv being spring-biased in the direction of its operative movement in forming a staple, and an inside former, whereby said outside former will resiliently hold a wire against the opposed face of the inside former during the interval that the said carrier slide moves the said cutter to sever the wire.

6. In a staple forming and driving machine, a carrier slide having a cutter mounted thereon and having also a slideway extending in the direction of its operative movement, and having a cross-slot communicating with said slideway, an outside former having movement in said slideway and having a crosshead freely movable in said cross-slot between the edges thereof, said outside former having a shoulder located below the bottom edge of said carrier slide, a spring located between said shoulder and said bottom edge and normally holding said outside former in its extreme lower position, with its staple forming bottom edge just projecting beyond said cutter, an inside former, and means for operating the carrier slide whereby when a wire fed across the upper face of the inside former will be resiliently held thereon by the forming edges of the outside former while the carrier slide moves the cutter to sever the wire.

BENJAMIN B. BLANCHARD. 

